Board 8 > My Metroidvania kick continues.

(+) 1 Yeah! (+)

Beat Metroid Dread and Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth. Both were really good, enjoyed them about equally. So far the ones I've played (recently and in the past) are:

Enjoyed:
Symphony of the Night
Circle of the Moon
Aria of Sorrow
Dawn of Sorrow
Portrait of Ruin
Bloodstained
Metroid Prime series
Metroid Zero Mission
Metroid Fusion
Metroid Dread
Timespinner
Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth

Wasn't a Fan:
Hollow Knight
Super Metroid (played it on an emulator and hated controlling it with a keyboard, might give it a second chance on a Virtual Console release)
Harmony of Dissonance
Ori and the Blind Forest
Dead Cells
La-Mulana (wasn't for me, although it was a well-crafted game)

Also picked up Salt and Sanctuary on Steam, and am eyeing Ender Lilies. Feel free to recommend me more.

EDIT: And yes, I'm fully aware that I apparently don't enjoy most of the most popular games in the genre.

Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight is pretty solid. A little shorter than I'd like, but a very good time, and you can probably get it pretty cheap right now.

Shantae series

I will always recommend the La-Mulana games but with the caveat that they're very much not for everyone.

If you're not looking specifically for 2D games then Metroid Prime is easily the best Metroidvania you haven't played yet. For 2D only, Aquaria and Shadow Complex are my go-to recommendations, though Shadow Complex borrows heavily from Super Metroid. Different controls though, and the controls are easily Super Metroid's weakest area (even on a controller).

Edit: You should also absolutely play Metroid Zero Mission if you liked Metroid Fusion.

TheArkOfTurus posted...

Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight is pretty solid. A little shorter than I'd like, but a very good time, and you can probably get it pretty cheap right now.

I'll check it out, thanks!

Underleveled posted...

Shantae series

Shantae's 'Smash speculation' fanbase kind of put me off of trying out the games, but I'll look into them.

NBIceman posted...

I will always recommend the La-Mulana games but with the caveat that they're very much not for everyone.

Actually tried La-Mulana in the past. It was a bit much for me, although I recognize that it was a well-made game.

Kenri posted...

If you're not looking specifically for 2D games then Metroid Prime is easily the best Metroidvania you haven't played yet. For 2D only, Aquaria and Shadow Complex are my go-to recommendations, though Shadow Complex borrows heavily from Super Metroid. Different controls though, and the controls are easily Super Metroid's weakest area (even on a controller).

Edit: You should also absolutely play Metroid Zero Mission if you liked Metroid Fusion.

Forgot to list Zero Mission on the list, played it in the past and really enjoyed it. Have also played and enjoyed the Prime games - didn't list them because I was mentally focusing on 2D games for whatever reason.

Will add Aquaria and Shadow Complex to the list.

I really dug Blasphemous.

Arkham Asylum is kind of a metroidvania.

What was that furry one on Xbox Live Arcade from a few years ago?

That one was great.

Edit: Dust, an Elysian Tale!

Highly recommend

Ender Lilies kinda places more of an emphasis on combat than movement, so if you like that aspect of the genre, that's a plus. It also has excellent atmosphere.

Some Metroidvania fans aren't into Ori 1 but love Ori 2. Not saying you'd be one of those, but it's something to consider.

Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight is great.

AM2R is amazing. Feels like a real Metroid game in a lot of ways. It's kinda like Super Metroid but with better controls.

Axiom Verge is real neat. Probably has the most interesting story of any Metroidvania I've played.

One last thing - Pirate's Curse is the only true Metroidvania Shantae, so that's probably the one you want to go for if you try the series. I played about 10 minutes and fell off it, but lots of people love it.

Gonna suggest buying a controller for PC. You can just purchase an Xbox controller and it's plug and play. If you have a ps4 controller it takes a slight workaround to USB it in but it's worth it.

I cant imagine trying to play super metroid with a keyboard

Please buy a controller for your pc wtf

Super Metroid sounds impossible with a keyboard for some of the stuff the game asks you to do

I have a controller for my PC now - I emulated Super Metroid back in my teens when I was catching up on the SNES. I'm not even sure controller on a PC was possible back then.

I'll look into those, Mac. Actually a big fan of Metroidvanias with a focus on combat.

crippling lack of rabi-ribi here

also feel environmental station alpha is very worth a mention though the difficulty is... like twice as much of a thing than with rabi-ribi

also this year specifically had quite a lot of notable metroidvanias too and i'm not just talking dread/deedlit/gba vania ports

KamikazePotato posted...

Beat Metroid Dread and Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth. Both were really good, enjoyed them about equally. So far the ones I've played (recently and in the past) are:

Enjoyed:
Metroid Fusion

Wasn't a Fan:
Hollow Knight
La-Mulana (wasn't for me, although it was a well-crafted game)

Well I cant help you

But in all seriousness

Astalon tears of the earth was a great castlevania style game

Yokus Island Express

huge metroidvania style map but youre a cute postman bug stuck on a pinball. Its unique, has puzzle elements and is an overall joy to play!

also gotta be that guy The original Dark Souls is a 3D metroidvania play that >_>

pepper2012 posted...

also gotta be that guy The original Dark Souls is a 3D metroidvania play that >_>

Dark Souls is my favorite game of all time but describing it as a metroidvania in the same vein as the other games posted here is an outright lie.

Just because you have some freedom as to where to go, and the world being connected, does not make it one.

Aecioo posted...

Dark Souls is my favorite game of all time but describing it as a metroidvania in the same vein as the other games posted here is an outright lie.

Just because you have some freedom as to where to go, and the world being connected, does not make it one.

Horizon Zero Dawn is a metroidvania

incidentally speaking of casual metroidvanias that aren't entirely metroidvanias

i am personally quite a fan of Wuppo (and on a similar note, non-metroidvania style but pikuniku's got very similar vibes. both are super cheap during the winter sales everywhere and i highly highly recommend them)

also Ufouria/Hebereke is... weird and shows its age, but is still a lot of fun

both Guacamelees are amazing

one extra rec just going the other direction here

anti-rec to owlboy
uncomfortable degrees of linearity

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/8-gamefaqs-contests/79783042

I'm not sure what you like or don't, because I've practically never played a Castlevania or Metroid game, which is most of your liked list. In fact, my list of games I can recommend (that you haven't played) simply isn't very long.

Ender Lilies was decent. It's not as fluid as Hollow Knight, but much more than Deedlit. The thing that jumped out at me about it and was frustrating for a while is that you can get animation-locked while attacking. Once I mostly got over that, my only issues were with figuring out where to go, which is, y'know, Metroidvania stuff. A couple of the secrets are ridiculous to find if you want to 100% the game, but the way they handle the map makes it very conducive to try.

If you liked Deedlit, the makers also made a Touhou game you might want to check out.

Played (at least partially) as a result of the topic I linked:
Astalon (beat, generally enjoyed)
La-Mulana (hated and returned)
Ori 2 (enjoyed up until a key moment that made me quit)
Blasphemous (was a bit too stiff for me)

Currently playing, thanks to Secret Santa:
Yoku's (charming, trying to figure out the grapple)
Shantae: Pirate's Curse (I keep getting stuck on stupid things like not knowing a particular screen scrolls or that quicksand doesn't insta-jib you)
Bloodstained (mostly enjoying, some of the systems are overwhelming and I've chosen to ignore)

I'm pretty sure you just don't like this genre.

I'm pretty sure you just don't know anything about me.

firefdr posted...

both Guacamelees are amazing

Came here to post this. If you have a friend to couch co-op the Guacamelee games with, even better.

Axiom Verge has good old-school Metroid vibes. Highly recommended.

Also, Salt & Sanctuary is free today on Epic Games store if you want to return the Steam version.

Yay another metroidvania topic, let's recommend som-

KamikazePotato posted...

Wasn't a Fan:
Hollow Knight
Super Metroid

...never mind :( We clearly have very different tastes!

UF8 posted...

there have also been a lot of hollow knight clones this year, that have tried ripping it off in varying capacities, some to the point of almost being straight up reskins and others directly taking its life system and little else frustratingly. i'll leave those aside especially since you mentioned not enjoying it >_>

You should post the HK clones anyway for those of us who did like it!

Touhou Luna Nights is very good, feels a lot like the DS Castlevanias.

Kenri posted...

You should post the HK clones anyway for those of us who did like it!

Greak is probably the most notable one, and there was also Exorcist Fairy and Aeterna Noctis... also 1 other one i'd have to check from the last couple of months, and also a number of demo releases like Haiku The Robot and Lone Fungus

and there's also more stuff like Glimmer in Mirror (demo released last year, i tried it this year personally, half expected it to fully release by now but it got bumped to next year much like haiku and silksong lol) and Crowsworn (had a kickstarter) too...

Throwing out the old Castle In The Darkness recommendation again.

Xtlm posted...

Throwing out the old Castle In The Darkness recommendation again.

And I'll say Dandara again! It's different but fun.

Guacamelee 1 and 2
Xeodrifter

Luis_Sera89 posted...

Touhou Luna Nights is very good, feels a lot like the DS Castlevanias.

This looks amazing.

StifledSilence posted...

Xeodrifter

Somebody talk me into this. I see it's $1.49 on PSN

plasmabeam posted...

Somebody talk me into this. I see it's $1.49 on PSN

It was on a top 10 list from that indie games youtube channel I was watching recently, and caught my attention there.

UF8 posted...

Greak is probably the most notable one, and there was also Exorcist Fairy and Aeterna Noctis... also 1 other one i'd have to check from the last couple of months, and also a number of demo releases like Haiku The Robot and Lone Fungus

and there's also more stuff like Glimmer in Mirror (demo released last year, i tried it this year personally, half expected it to fully release by now but it got bumped to next year much like haiku and silksong lol) and Crowsworn (had a kickstarter) too...

Thanks! Glimmer in Mirror, Crowsworn, and Aeterna Noctis have been on my radar but I hadn't heard of the rest.

Luis_Sera89 posted...

Touhou Luna Nights is very good, feels a lot like the DS Castlevanias.

Luna Nights is great (especially the bosses), but for those who care, there's barely any exploration involved. It's broken into levels and each level leads directly into the next. You can backtrack but it's not interconnected at all.

plasmabeam posted...

This looks amazing

Luna Nights was fun.

Okay when I saw Salt and Sanctuary described as 'like Dark Souls' I didn't think it would literally be Dark Souls in 2D. This is so similar it's uncanny. The Metroidvania-esque ability I just picked up seems like an afterthought, really. Good so far though!

I couldn't play more than like 30 minutes of Salt and Sanctuary. I think it was mostly the aesthetics that bothered me but I wasn't enjoying the gameplay either.

Glad you're liking it though!

The aesthetics are definitely the worst part. I'm enjoying the gameplay but the art style is offputting, and not in a good way.

I started Blasphemous the other day. Not too far in but it sure is something stylistically.

Seanchan posted...

I started Blasphemous the other day. Not too far in but it sure is something stylistically.

And now at about 25% map coverage. Game seems pretty open, from what I can gather, unless I just managed to pick the "right" direction each time. The animation priority takes some getting used to as you can't just spam attacks and dodges. There's a lot of flowery language and needless esoteric-ness but I'd say I'm enjoying it so far!

Whats wrong with Hollow Knight?

I hate 3D SoulsBorne games but am loving Blasphemous so far (just reached the Head/Hands boss).

My problem with 3D SoulsBorne, I now realize, is that I hate the stamina bar, the nonexistent platforming, and the lack of direction/clarity in the 3D environments (honestly, good luck progressing beyond the first area in Bloodborne without a YouTube guide).

Blasphemous trades these issues for some cool gameplay gimmicks, challenging platforming, and a nostalgic SotN-esque aesthetic.

plasmabeam posted...

I hate 3D SoulsBorne games but am loving Blasphemous so far (just reached the Head/Hands boss).

My problem with 3D SoulsBorne, I now realize, is that I hate the stamina bar, the nonexistent platforming, and the lack of direction/clarity in the 3D environments (honestly, good luck progressing beyond the first area in Bloodborne without a YouTube guide).

Blasphemous trades these issues for some cool gameplay gimmicks, challenging platforming, and a nostalgic SotN-esque aesthetic.

I will fight you.

I still wasn't enamored with Blasphemous. The animation priority that I've come to interpret as what makes something "souls-like" just annoys the piss out of me, and unlike Ender Lilies, which wasn't bad in that regard, Blasphemous also felt stiff and frequently unforgiving.

Beat Yoku's and Bloodstained, which were both okay, not great. Shantae 3 is not as good as it was hyped to be, where folks assured me it was better than HGH and the One True Metroidvania in the series. Enjoying the hell out of Guacamelee currently.

UltimaterializerX posted...

I will fight you.

Hahah I bought Demon's Souls back in 2009 and couldn't get into it because of the clunky play controls and the issues I outlined in my previous post. Had the same issues with Bloodborne, although the combat was somewhat smoother.

I'll stick to 2D. Once I finish Blasphemous, I'll do Ori as a palate clenser, then finally try out Hollow Knight.

Dead Cells is a Metroidvania?